Summary and analysis of articles

Summary and analysis of articles

Article 1: Smart Humanitarianism: Re-imagining Human Rights in the Age of Enterprise by John Dale and David Kyle

Summary

In the article Smart Humanitarianism: Re-imagining Human Rights in the Age of Enterprise, John and David provide insights about the human rights revolutionary changes and their implications and consequences to sociological studies and human rights in general. The role of social entrepreneurs is changing. There is diversification in these roles since social actors are evolving and reshaping how human rights and humanitarian functions are handled. The article also focuses on the current state of human rights practices and sociology and thus, tries to reshape these practices with an emphasis on sustaining the financial, social and environmental aspects. Through this paradigm, John and David imply that solving problems and taking part in humanitarian activities should have fewer sentiments, technocratic in organization and managerial. Moreover, the article critically observes the smart humanitarianism; a focus on machinery use, its impacts, and supporting articles towards smart humanitarianism.

Analysis

Social scientists are compiling approaches in an attempt to understand human rights. They have developed a sociology of human rights, which is consequently reshaping the field of sociology and human rights in general.  From the social scientists’ point of view, the article depicts that human rights have meaningful practices, not conformed to ordinary understandings as stipulated by governing institutions. Therefore, sociologists have introduced the concept of smart humanitarianism to draw critical attention to human rights and the value and meaning of human philosophy. Thus, the sociology of human rights is ideal in the provision of fundamental social ontologies and the empathetic importance of human beings in developing human rights institutions.

Article2: Human Rights and the Collateral Damage of Neoliberalism by Jessica Whyte

Summary

This article provides a detailed explanation of Talal Asad’s commentary “What do Human Rights Do? An Anthropological Inquiry.” The review was published after the NATO-Serbia bombing, which propelled the AI and the HRW to issue documentations ordering for the evacuation of the civilians. The documentations were also focused on the probabilities that the deaths were qualified under international humanitarian law; hence, be reported as collateral damages.

Furthermore, the article focuses on human rights and its relationship to Neoliberalism as a twin coincidence. Jessica Whyte argues that the Amnesty International report provides a paradigm shift during the pre-colonial period due to soci0-economic inequities. Thus, the article acknowledges that human rights work through a universal aspiration.

Analysis

Recently, scholars are trying to deeply understand human rights and Neoliberalism. This is because human rights have dominated and been reinforced in many states through a global human right organizational watchtower. The article Human Rights and the Collateral Damage of Neoliberalism focuses on what human rights do in case of collateral damages. Therefore, Talal Asad’s essay suggests that human rights functionality can better be understood through its language limitations. He says that human rights language is continuously being used by the superpower or the sovereign subjects to do what they want to be done and is equated to framing a justice question in human rights language through assumptions of injustice constituents. Thus, Talal’s essay had been used at the forefront of providing morality and sense in the forms of violence. Jessica examines Talal’s commentary from the point of Neoliberalism. This is thought to be coincidental since Neoliberalism and human rights movements arose at the same time to form secular.

Article 3:  INTERPRETING THE POLITICAL THEORY IN THE PRACTICE OF HUMAN RIGHTS by Brooke Ackerly

Summary

In this article, Brookie Ackerly introduces the social norms meeting converged by the UNICEF host Francesca Moneti. It elaborates the fact that UNICEF is guided by human rights such as the CRC and the CEDAW. It illustrates that human rights have both moral are political power that supersedes the system’s legal authority. Brookie arranges this article into three broad parts. In the first section, Brookie supports Buchanan’s use of theory in practice as a method to interpret legal human rights. Brookie states that in his finds, he established that legal human rights can be used for global references and hence, human rights have moral foundations. The second part of this article re-characterizes the human rights theory from an ethical view to a political perspective.  The third section offers a clarification of Buchanan’s troubling issues in interpreting legal human rights. Thus, Brookie uses the last part, to sum up, the points, define the title and assert that the human rights theory is a political theory and not a moral theory.

Analysis

Globally, international legal human rights theory is essential. Thus, then Francesca uses UNICEF in transforming social norms such as the CRC and the CEDAW; it was an ideal step in guiding her work. Such reference is essential in providing UNICEF with a foundation to argue on the importance of legal human rights. Furthermore, political actors and human rights participators have the moral and political authorities to deploy their transitional support since they have a reference system. International legal human rights provide both moral and political references in case of any form of violation.

Article 4: Rethinking Health and Human Rights: Time for a Paradigm Shift by Paul Farmer and Nicole Gastineau

Summary

Paul and Nicole argue about the fundamental rights of human beings through this article. This article substantiates that every human being has a right to a standard living and well-being in terms of food, shelter, medical care and clothing. The authors of this article also argue that people have a right to security provisions regardless of their situations. Farmer and Nicole emphasize that even though there are tangible gains in civil and political rights, the current world has less push towards social and economic rights. There are evident cases of human right violations across the globe. Thus, this article provides a synergy of health and human rights, the far to which the human rights movement has come and a proposal to the new agendas for both health and human rights.

Analysis

Human rights have lost their way in recent decades. Since many people have disabled human rights, the magnitude of structural violence had grown into a bigger problem. We are all entitled to better health care systems and ethical living standards. However, economists and technocrats have invaded every part of human rights; that is why we are suffering. Those who are perceived to render help and fight against such injustices have adopted defensive postures that have led to failure in managing the current inequities. We should embrace each other and quit the notions that create a bridge between the poor and the rich. Thus, it is essential to implement the paradigm of a shift in solving violations to human rights, among other aspects.

References

Ackerly, B. (2017). Interpreting Political Theory in the Practice of Human Rights. Law and Philosophy, 36(2), 135-153.

Dale, J., & Kyle, D. (2016). Smart humanitarianism: Re-imagining human rights in the age of enterprise. Critical Sociology, 42(6), 783-797.

Farmer, P., & Gastineau, N. (2009). Rethinking health and human rights: Time for a paradigm shift.

Whyte, J. (2017). Human rights and the collateral damage of Neoliberalism. Theory & Event, 20(1), 137-151.